Reality Changers increasing number of participating schools in San Diego and Orange Counties while expanding program into juvenile hall in coming school year.

SAN DIEGO(August 24, 2017) – Next week Reality Changers celebrates back-to-school season by welcoming its students for the program’s eighteenth school year. In addition to attending school and participating in extracurricular activities, Reality Changers’ students participate in a weekly comprehensive tutoring program.

​The school year kicks off after a summer filled with milestones:

In June, Reality Changers’ students and graduates surpassed the $120,000,000 mark in scholarship aid received from all sources since the program began in 2001.

In August, Reality Changers launched Project Exito, an initiative to serve students in San Diego County’s juvenile detention facilities. Reality Changers will offer its full range of program for students in juvenile hall and continue to offer programming for these youths at Reality Changers’ headquarters after their release from custody. The goal of the program is for these exiting youth to achieve “exito,” the Spanish word for success.

In August, Reality Changers will begin serving students at seven new schools in San Diego County and four new schools and youth-serving organizations in Orange County.

Photo Courtesy of Reality Changers

“We work with the toughest and brightest eighth- to twelfth-graders in San Diego and Orange Counties and prepare them to be first generation college students,” says Founder & President Christopher Yanov. “Our unique style is that we surround struggling eighth-graders (with GPAs between 0.0 and 2.0) with positive peer role models so that they can succeed together. By the time they reach twelfth grade, all students are prepared for our intensive, yearlong course to guide them through the college application process.”

While graduating from a four-year university is the ultimate goal for Reality Changers students, some excel when there is a short-term goal in sight. Reality Changers motivates students to continue to do well in school by awarding students who earn a 3.5 GPA with a $4,000 scholarship to attend UCSD’s Academic Connections, a three week residential program where students have the opportunity to live the collegiate experience by taking a college-level course and living in UC San Diego dorms.

You are invited to experience Reality Changers’ Opening Night on Monday, August 28, 2017 beginning at 6:00pm. Meet the students and leaders that make this transformative program possible. With advanced notice, the media is also invited to attend our other programs during Opening Week on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 6:00pm and 9:00pm. See you soon!

That’s why the mission of REALITY CHANGERS is to transform lives by providing youth from disadvantaged backgrounds with the academic support, financial assistance, and leadership training to become college graduates.

After REALITY CHANGERS began in 2001 with just four 8th-grade students and $300 to its name, the program's graduates have earned $120,000,000 in scholarships.

“Reality Changers is a model - not just for the city, not just for the state, but for the nation.”-U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan